This invention pertains to a hood mounted on an electrical socket contact for preventing intermittent electrical connections, and in particular to a hood which is press-fit onto the socket contact and also providing for efficient manufacture of an associated female plug connector.
Electrical connectors which utilize socket contacts for mating with male contact pins are widely used in the electronics industry. Normally, the male contact pins extend from a male receptacle which mates to a female plug containing the socket contacts. However, when the electrical cable to either the male receptacle or female plug connector was flexed, the electrical connection between the male contact pins and the socket contacts could intermittently be broken. Thus, to prevent the electrical connection from intermittently being broken, a hood was mounted around each socket contact to provide a rigid bore of bounded diameter for connecting with the male contact pin. However, the hoods used on prior devices were constructed of stainless steel and thus had to be crimped onto the socket contact. Furthermore, since both the hood and socket contact were constructed of metal, the socket contact had to be manufactured under tolerance parameters which would result in the hood firmly fitting around the socket.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to eliminate the need to crimp a hood onto a socket contact.
Another object of the invention is to reduce the tolerance needed to manufacture a socket contact suitable for use with a hood.
It is also an object of the invention to reduce the cost in manufacturing electrical connectors which utilize socket contacts having hoods.
A further object of the invention is to prevent foreign objects from entering an electrical socket contact during the manufacture of an electrical connector plug.
An additional object of the invention is to limit the amount of stress on a socket contact having a hood.